Sending handwritten cards and notes in bulk is one of the most powerful features of Handwrytten. It allows businesses, non-profits, and individuals to stay in touch at scale, unlike any other medium available. Doing a bulk send also generates the most questions to our account management team! To bring you up the curve on all of the ways to do this, we have created a video tutorial. We will also walk through the process here.
There are actually two ways to send in bulk. The first is just using the “Send” button below any card and assigning multiple recipients. The second method is to use the “Bulk Send” button. Using Bulk Send, you upload a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. This can be a more flexible way to send handwritten cards in bulk but is a little more complicated. Let’s walk through both methods now.
Using this method. When you craft your message, instead of inserting the recipient’s name directly use a “merge tag”, by clicking one of the orange buttons at the top of the screen.
These merge tags will automatically be replaced with the recipient’s first name, last name, or business name by using the information you provide in the handwritten address book. Then continue on crafting your note and click “Next Step” when ready.
Feel free to search your address book using the magnifier on the right. Just type a few letters of your recipient’s name. The list will filter and just check the checkbox next to each person you want to send the message to. It’s that easy!
If you need to add new addresses, the process is quite simple. You can add contacts one at a time, or upload new contacts in bulk using the Handwrytten Address Import Excel spreadsheet. To get started with either option, click the “Add New Recipient” button shown below.
Manually Add Recipients
Manually add recipients by entering all of their information. Be sure to separate out their first and last name to allow merge tags to work. The birthday field is optional but allows you to filter for future birthday card batches.
Once you are done, click “Add Recipient”.
Upload Addresses Using the Excel Template
Scroll down to download our Handwrytten Address Import template and then upload it once complete.
The Excel sheet is fairly simple to fill out. Add a new contact on each row and fill out the columns with their information. See the example below.
The last column is an optional field where you can insert a birth date (month and day). This is so you can schedule out birthday cards in advance and they will be written and mailed the week before.
When you’ve completed the template, simply save it and upload it. The new recipients will now appear in your address book and you can select who you want to send cards in bulk to.
Then add to your basket.
You have now completed your first bulk handwritten note send! Great job! You’re a master at sending handwritten notes in bulk!
The Bulk Send tool is the most flexible way to send notes but does require some knowledge of Microsoft Excel. Additionally, when you use the Bulk Send tool, typically discounts apply for larger orders. In the screenshot below, Starting at 10 notes, the more notes you send the greater the discount per card you will receive.
To use the Bulk Send tool, just follow the steps. As you complete each step, more will appear.
Download the Handwrytten Bulk Import template and read the instructions. Then you can choose to use the “Basic” tab or the “Advanced” tab to write your notes.
The Basic Tab is easiest for people who are not familiar with Excel. This page requires each row to have a completely filled-in message. Just fill in all data for all rows. You can omit the “(opt)” data, such as Business name. However, you must have a full “Return” and “To” address for each order.
Do not delete any of the columns. Even the blank “(opt)” columns are required.
Overwrite the sample data when you’re ready! If you have a signature designed with Handwrytten, please feel free to use your signature code in the body of the message.
IMPORTANT: After filling in the “Basic” sheet, save the Excel workbook with the Basic page shown. When you re-open the spreadsheet, this Basic page should be the first page that shows. By having this page saved as the active sheet, Handwrytten will know you want to use it.
The Advanced page allows you to do a “Mail Merge” and will automatically replace up to 4 placeholders in the message. It’s not that hard. Simply put your message in cell A2 on the Template sheet. Include “keys” for values such as “{{NAME}}”. Please see the example rows on the Advanced sheet. It looks just like the “Basic Sheet”, with the exception of the orange columns at the end. Do not edit the “Message” column directly. It contains a crazy formula for the mail merge. Type the “keys” and “values” for each row. If you do not use 4 keys, only fill in the keys you need. See the example on the Advanced page and the template page. Overwrite the data when you’re ready!
IMPORTANT: After filling in the “Advanced” sheet, save the Excel workbook with the Advanced page shown. When you re-open the spreadsheet, this Advanced page should be the first page that shows. By having this page saved as the active sheet, Handwrytten will know you want to use it.
Super Advanced Tip:
You can have multiple sheets all “linked up” to either the Basic Page or Advanced Page. This allows you to “dump” data from your system onto a new sheet, then use formulas to get it in the right format.
If you need help formatting your template, feel free to reach out!
Once you have saved your template with the correct tab showing, uploaded the saved file and choose your send date. The “Send Date” is the date your order will be pulled to be written. We aim to complete all orders within one business day. On rare occasions, it might take two days. After your note has been written it will be handed off to the US Postal System to deliver.
Select one of our handwriting styles to match the message and tone of your message. Contact us if you would like to learn more about how we can turn your handwriting into a custom font for you!
Gift Cards: Want to do more than just send a card? We offer gift cards to major brands (see a full list on our FAQ page). Denominations range from $5 Starbucks cards to $500 Visa cards. We’d be happy to include one in your online order. Just choose it when before you add the card to your basket.
Business Cards & Inserts: For a small fee we can insert items such as business cards, stickers, hand-outs, etc., to your notes. If you have your custom inserts on file, you will have an option for “Step 5”. If you have not sent us custom inserts, this step will be missing.
Once everything looks good you can add your cards to your basket.
After you have completed your update, you can review your orders in the basket. Simply click the arrow in the top to the left of the card graphic to flip through the orders.
As you are using Microsoft Excel for the upload, the preview might not look so perfect. Don’t worry! Our team reviews every bulk order and will make it look great. They will reach out if they have questions.
If you have any special requests, such as “send the notes back to me, sealed and stamped at 123 Main street, Anytown, USA 12345” include that in the special notes section. We will do our best to accommodate special requests.
If everything looks good, complete your order and give yourself a pat on the back for a job well done! You just used our tools to send handwritten cards in bulk!
We will be following up with a brief video and blog post with some advanced techniques for managing data as it comes from your system (such as your CRM). Be on the lookout for that shortly!
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